HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is sending dozens to assist in the investigation of an apartment fire on Young Street that killed Honolulu firefighter Jeffrey Fiala on Monday.
The Honolulu Fire Department asked the ATF to deploy members of the National Response Team, which is “made up of special agents, lab personnel and fire research personnel from around the country,” says NRT’s Christopher Porecca.
ATF agents based in Honolulu have already begun the investigation, but a few dozen more are on the way from various states.
The team does not charge the local authorities for the work.
“It’s a team looking for the facts and the truth of that incident,” Porecca said in an ATF video.
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The team assisted the Maui Fire Department with the Lahaina wildfire in August 2023. A comprehensive report detailing the cause and origin was delivered a year later.
Fiala, 25, died fighting the fire and four others were taken to hospital but have now been released.
Bobby Lee, president of the Hawaii Fire Fighting Association, said whenever a firefighter dies in the line of duty, federal partners offer assistance.
“It’s important to find out exactly what happened and to prevent this from happening again,” Lee said.
The ATF will present a final report to the HFD, but there is no timeline for when that will happen.
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